First on CNN: Raj Shah out at Fox in wake of historic Dominion settlement
Raj Shah is pictured here on March 26
By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business
New York (CNN) — Raj Shah, the Fox Corp. brand protection executive who pushed Fox News in an even more pro-Trump direction after the 2020 election, has left the company.
“Raj brought talent and creativity to his role at Fox,” Fox spokesperson Brian Nick told CNN on Thursday. “We appreciate his service and wish him the best on his next endeavor.”
Shah, who left the company in May, had previously served in the Trump administration as a senior communications official. The reason for Shah’s departure was not known, and he could not be immediately reached for comment.
A cache of internal Fox communications brought to light in Dominion Voting Systems’ massive defamation lawsuit against the right-wing network included several messages from Shah.
Most notably, perhaps, was a “brand protection” report that Shah sent to senior executives which contained “threats” to Fox News’ reputation. In that report, Shah highlighted criticism host Neil Cavuto was facing after his decision to cut away from a lie-filled press conference in November 2020 by then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
In another message following Fox News’s call that Joe Biden would win the presidency, Shah emailed Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and Fox Chief Legal Officer Viet Dinh, reporting “strong conservative and viewer backlash to Fox that we are working to track and mitigate.”
“Both Donald Trump and Newsmax have taken active roles in promoting attacks on Fox News,” he wrote. “Positive impressions of Fox News among our viewers dropped precipitously after Election Day to the lowest levels we’ve ever seen.”
When a Fox News reporter later fact-checked a press conference held by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and ally Sidney Powell, Shah angrily texted a colleague.
“This is the kinda s—t that will kill us,” he wrote, according to legal filings. “What a f—king mess. We cover it wall to wall and then we burn that down with all the skepticism.”
The-CNN-Wire
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